With the Congress high command giving marching orders to embattled Union Minister P K Bansal, the BJP-led Opposition on Friday said the Budget session of Parliament would not have ended abruptly “had this good sense prevailed earlier”.
“Had the Centre accepted the BJP demand for sacking the two tainted ministers (Ashwani Kumar in addition to Bansal) Parliament could have functioned properly and there would have been no disruptions,” said BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain. “Finally, good sense has prevailed in the Congress. It (Bansal’s resignation) should have come earlier. When the entire Opposition was demanding Bansal’s resignation, both the Centre and the Congress adopted an adamant attitude, which led to the House adjourning sine die ahead of schedule,” said CPI national secretary D Raja, with the CPM echoing a similar view. The Opposition also took a dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “for failing to expeditiously oust Ashwani Kumar as well”.
“The country wants to know from the Prime Minister whether Ashwani had indeed resigned or not. The Centre is silent on the issue. The confusion has emerged in Congress as two different groups are trying to save the minister,” said Hussain.
He added that party chief Rajnath Singh would launch a BJP campaign on Saturday.